About Standards First

Who is the audience for Standards First?
Teachers of mathematics, science, and reading and career-technical teachers in grades 8-12 are the primary users. Curriculum supervisors, college faculty, and pre-service teachers will also benefit from the web site.

What will Standards First deliver to Ohio schools?
The Standards First project will give teachers direct access to web-based resources that support the teaching and learning of Ohio's academic content standards in a workplace or other real-world context. The project will help educators answer students' age-old question: "When am I ever going to use this?"

How are resources selected?
A peer review process based on the Ohio Resource Center rubric determines whether resources are selected as best or promising practices.

How will Standards First be evaluated?
Information from the pilot site and analysis of website utilization will be used to evaluate the project. Achievement evaluation will be ongoing.

How did Standards First start?
The integration of academic and career-technical education has been mandated by the federal Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Act since the early 1990s. Standards First was launched in 2002 as a collaborative of the Ohio Resource Center, housed at the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse and administered through The Ohio State University, and the Center for Curriculum and Assessment at the Ohio Department of Education.

What is the timeline for Standards First?
Many resources with career-focus annotations are now available. Revision and addition of resources will be ongoing.

The Standards First project, supported in whole by the federal Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Act, is a partnership between the Ohio Resource Center and the Ohio Department of Education, Office of Career-Technical and Adult Education.